Highly commended in the Rising Star category, Helene Mabon has worked at Right Medicine Pharmacy since she left school in 2013

Helene Mabon’s first role at Right Medicine Pharmacy’s Winchburgh branch was as a Saturday sales assistant, as she was studying at college at the time. The speed with which she completed her medicines counter assistant training and her exceptional people skills meant her pharmacy manager Victoria Wilson had no reservations about offering a full time position late last year when Helene realised her heart lay in pharmacy and not her college course.

That faith was well founded, as Helene has recently embarked on a dispensing assistant training course, is passing her modules with flying colours and is thoroughly enjoying her new role. Helene says that her ultimate ambition is to either become an accuracy checking technician or perhaps even go to university to become a pharmacist. She adds that the encouragement and support she gets from her colleagues and managers – at both branch and head office level – really spurs her on.

That level of support is reflected in the fact that Helene didn’t put herself forward for the Rising Star Award. A new category at this year’s Awards, it was introduced as a way of championing those at the start of their pharmacy careers who are excelling in all aspects of their jobs and making a real impact both at work and in the wider community. Richard Stephenson, head of retail, operations and HR at Sterling-based Right Medicine Pharmacy, had no doubt that he knew someone who ticked all the boxes, but the first Helene knew of Richard’s nomination was when she received a telephone call informing her that she had made it to the final.

The whole package

Helene’s level of customer engagement is excellent, thanks in part to her ability to remember details such as family members and even names of pets! However, she doesn’t let idle chat get in the way of her work, instead pairing it with product and condition knowledge so she is able to provide advice and assist with questions.

Helene doesn’t shy away from the business side of pharmacy, getting to grips with store layout and product ranges, and therefore increasing sales across the board. She understood a newly installed till system so quickly that she became a point of reference for the rest of the pharmacy team. Her dedication to patient care is unparalleled, as illustrated by the fact that she sometimes drops off prescriptions in her own time to housebound patients who have missed the cut-off for the usual delivery driver’s rounds.

And only recently, Helene took an elderly patient and her dog home from the pharmacy so they didn’t get soaked in the heavy rain storm that was raging outside. As judges Leyla Hannbeck from the National Pharmacy Association and Joanne Taylor from Vittoria Healthcare, both commented, Helene is someone who will truly go the extra mile.

Helene explains: “It was an honour to be invited to the Training Matters Awards, and I had a fantastic day having a wee look around London after the event as it was my first time there. The other staff members were so chuffed for me too and my certificate is now displayed in the pharmacy for everyone to see.” The Right Medicine Pharmacy group is rightfully proud of Helene’s success, with Richard Stephenson saying: “We have bagged ourselves a real talent in Helene… She really is well on her way to being the best.”

We have bagged ourselves a real talent in Helene… She really is well on her way to being the best.